The Nine Steps of E-Discovery

1.Records management. This takes place before any legal action begins (or even if none is contemplated) and entails an organization's storage and retention policies for electronic information.

2. Identification. The process of learning the location of all data which you or your client may have a duty to preserve and potentially disclose in a pending or prospective legal proceeding.

3.Preservation of relevant documents.

4.Collection of the relevant electronically stored information (ESI) for review.

5.Processing the raw data into output that is structured in accordance with review requirements.

6.Review. Sorting out responsive documents to produce and privileged documents to withhold. This includes deduplication, or the removal of duplicate or near-duplicate items, and redaction.

7.Analysis. Evaluating a collection of electronic discovery materials to determine relevant summary information, such as key topics of the case, important people, specific vocabulary and jargon, and important individual documents.

8.Production. The method, format, and timing of the way the ESI is made available.

9.Presentation of the requested ESI in the actual trial.

      Source: Electronic Discovery Reference Model (www.edrm.net)
     

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